The bank’s liquidity indicator at the end of 2008 was 30%, while in October of this year it stood at 42%. The bank has paid LVL 41.7 million in interest to the State Treasury and the Privatisation Agency. During the course of the year, the bank has developed and offered to customers several new deposit products, including the FLEX deposit. It is a term deposit denominated in lats with the possibility of converting the currency of the deposit unlimited number of times during the term of the deposit. The 3D savings account allows companies to plan their cash flow, while the EXPRESS term deposit has a fixed interest rate and allows the depositor to receive the earned interest at the beginning of the term if so desired.

 

Parex banka’s CEO Nils Melngailis: “We have achieved stability, and we have worked successfully on attracting new clients and developing new products. Similarly, the deposit volumes prove the loyalty of our customers. We have also attracted a substantial number of new customers, and the stability of our financial indicators ensures a more favourable environment for attracting a strategic investor. This has been a year of serious decisions, but we have achieved the result – currently Parex banka does not differ from other banks in the Latvian banking sector in terms of financial indicators.”

 

Key elements in improving the bank’s financial indicators include a successful agreement on the restructuring of the bank’s syndicated loans in March of this year, as well as the involvement of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the shareholder structure of the bank, thus ensuring additional stability and growth prospects for the bank.

 

A wide scope of activities has been done during the course of the year to optimise expenditures. Administrative costs have been slashed – personnel costs have been reduced by 30%, travel expenses by 93%, advertising, marketing and representation costs by 85%, transport costs by 68%, office expenses by 61%, and communications expenditures by 28%.

 

Major work has also been devoted to organizing the bank’s business and dividing it into three major directions – retail services, corporate services, and private capital management, identifying priorities for development in each of three areas. A restructuring plan of the bank has been developed and submitted to the European Commission.

 

  

Founded in 1992, Parex banka currently employs some 2,000 people at branches all over Latvia and offers universal banking services throughout the Baltic region, the CIS and other European nations such as Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Parex Group companies operate across the banking, finance, leasing, asset management and life insurance sectors. Currently, the Latvian Privatisation Agency is the majority shareholder of Parex banka, holding 73,4% of the Bank’s shares, but 22,4% are controlled by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Parex banka has signed up to the European Code of Conduct on housing loans.

 

 

For more information:

Inga Saleniece, acting director

Corporate Communications Department

Telephone: +371 67778870 or +371 26564629

E-mail: pr@parex.lv